* New book from renowned Anglican storyteller and preacher * Puts reader into the heart of the biblical world * Chapters can be used for personal devotion or as discussion-starters for groups How do the scriptures speak to us today? Where do our stories mirror biblical stories? Herbert O'Driscoll, beloved Anglican preacher, storyteller, author, and hymn writer, invites us to imagine what the "back story" of our favorite scriptures might have been. By doing Christian midrash-telling the stories within the Story-Dr. O'Driscoll has filled in the gaps by creating new homilies and parables based on the text. Some are narratives, such as Jesus wondering about his cousin John as a twentysomething activist, and Mary's thoughts as she knelt at the foot of the cross. Others ask you to imagine a bundle of letters from early Christians that "might have been written if we could only find them," like Philemon's response to Paul's request on behalf of a runaway slave, or a letter from a student-aged Judas Iscariot written to his parents expressing his excitement about a rabbi whose teaching he finds fascinating. Each of the twenty-eight short chapters offers a glimpse of the thoughts and emotions of individuals found in the Christian Testament, bringing alive the sights, sounds, and smells of the Holy Land.

Few Anglican theologians today are as conversant about the reality and meaning of the Incarnation in the lives of ordinary women and men as Herbert O'Driscoll. In his newest book, O'Driscoll helps us find the presence of Christ in those places we would rather avoid: the sorrows, the heartbreaks, and the challenges of everyday living. O'Driscoll argues that in the details of Jesus' life on earth lie the source of his very real presence in our lives today. Following the stories in the Gospels, we find Jesus in relationship with those around him. In his joys and sorrows, we can see reflected our own experiences, and take strength in the knowledge that Jesus has walked this way before us, and indeed, is walking with us now. "Jesus' choices, like ours, depend for their success on the vagaries of human nature in those whom he has chosen. There are no simple categories such as bad and good, weak and strong, wise and foolish in this circle around Jesus. In each of them, showing now an eager and dedicated face, all these things are woven together." -from God with Us